MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

10/19 Gammons on Cubs-Red Sox talks

MLB Network’s Peter Gammons had some interesting comments on Boston’s WEEI radio Wednesday regarding the lengthy negotiations between Red Sox and Cubs over compensation for Theo Epstein. Here’s a transcript:

“This thing with the Cubs, they don’t actually have anyone negotiating that actually has been in development, so they don’t know the players the Red Sox talk about,” Gammons said. “They have the CEO of business, and the assistant general mnager, who wasn’t actually involved in the farm system. So, it’s been a difficult negotiation. And frankly, I think everyone involved knows the Cubs are a bottom-three farm system. Trey McNutt would be Red Sox prospect [No.] 25. For the Cubs to act like they’re giving up the next Billy Williams is kind of absurd.

“But at the same time, holding that thing up has also hurt the Cubs, because they need Theo there building the organization,” he said. “There isn’t a lot there. They need him to go out and not only find a manager, but to fill several roles in scouting, development and all the rest. The absurdity has hurt the Cubs, and it’s certainly hurt the Red Sox, because they need to move on and let Ben [Cherington] take over, Ben and Mike Hazen, be running the organization and get the right people in place. …

“It’s so silly,” he said. “The rebuilding process that Theo is going to undertake in Chicago is far greater than the job that he inherited as the general manager of the Red Sox. Far greater. And it’s going to take a long time. They’re not talking about guys that are franchise pieces. They should get it done from both sides and move on. …

“The [Cubs] need to move on, making this a long, long process, the Red Sox hold the cards in this situation, except for the fact that the Red Sox need to move on, too,” Gammons said. “I actually think it might get done today at some point. I think if they get the thing done, then they can anounce it Friday and then it’s all fine. By then, Theo can have things lined up and start talking to people about whether it’s Jed Hoyer or Josh Byrnes he brings in, who he brings into scouting.”

This is ridiculous by Gammons. I understand he has to keep his connections and being the mouthpiece for the Red Sox is the price to pay occasionally, but 25th and bottom three? Baseball America says we’re more middle of the pack and McNutt is top 10 in the Sox system as well.

Didn’t Baseball America after the Garza trade and Adrian Gonzalez trade rank the Cubs farm system #16 and Boston’s #17 and the Cubs just had an excellent draft so I’d imagine they might be creeping towards the top 10.
But Gammons says bottom Cubs system is bottom 3 ?

just give them Trey… he is a minor league lifer…… WHO CARES?!?!?! There are 100 more Trey McNutts to be had whether its next years draft or acquiring spects for our garbage…….. GET IT DONE!! Get Theo in here!! Quit jacking around!! Everything in this organization takes 100 years……. somethings more than 100 :(

I LOOOOOOVE that Gammons said the Cubs need to bring in Theo to do several things….INCLUDING FINDING A MANAGER!!! Think of it this way, if the Cubs give up excellent PROSPECTS (debatable, I know) it is not just to get Epstein because with Epstein we get a new manager as well. Gitter Dunn better than Adam Dunn.

@petrey 10, The Cubs shouldn’t just give them Trey. When making a business transaction, the Cubs should try to get the best deal possible. They obviously feel that if they continue to hold out, the Red Sox will take the prospect they’re offering.

Why are you quoting Peter Gammons when he’s spewing Red Sox garbage! He’s paid by the team not just MLB network. Plus, everyone knows he eats and sleeps sox… Seriously, a more objective voice is necessary to balance the biased nonsense he’s talking about.

Baseball America doesn’t rank the Cubs farm system as bottom 3! That is just one example of the bias in this transcript. Peter Gammons may be a HOF’er but he has no credibility when it comes to Red Sox objectivity.

Typical east-coast bias and fluff. If McNutt is equivalent of No. 25 prospect for Boston, where are the 24 other players? Boston sure could have used some of them in September when they were choking. I’m not saying McNutt is the next *insert-name-here*, but he’s also not some minor league lifer either. MLB.com rates the Cubs’ system as middle of the pack. Bottom 3? Whatever, Gammons. Keep making stuff up, that’s how you become a “famous” journalist anyways.

Nothing is tougher than evaluating minor league talent. How good is Trey McNutt? I don’t know and neither does Peter Gammons. The difference between us is that I’m not paid to predict the future. The Cubs are reluctant to give up on this pitcher, and I suspect they’re closer to the truth about him than I am or Gammons is. Slip the Red Sox some money and one or two mid-level prospects and let’s get on with business.

I’m actually disappointed Gammons made those comments. He’s a Hall of Fame journalist and his reputation is beyond reproach. However, he’s completely wrong. He undervalues both the Cubs prospects and the farm system. Somebody above mentioned that this is a business transaction. They are right. The Cubs are getting a president, not a GM. Furthermore, Theo coming to the Cubs is inevitable. The Red Sox DO NOT want him back. If he comes back they will pay him to do NOTHING. Why give them something of value for someone they are trying to get rid of?

If this isn’t a bunch of biased BS I’ve never heard it. The Cubs should not give up their #1 starting pitching prospect. If not for injuries McNutt very well would have made his ML debut this year. If the RS won’t accept a lesser prospect, let them keep Epstein and deal with their mess they’ve created by announcing his departure and replacement. The Cubs need to build from within and it doesn’t sound like the RS have been doing very well at that so maybe Epstein is not a good fit for the Cubs.

LOL, Well at least Gammos brings a unbias prospective…..oh wait!! I don’t mind Gammons but he doenst know what hes talking about when talking about other teams farm systems. One week ago on MLB Network he said called Brett Jackson a “middle of the road prospect.” If he wants to talk Boston farm system i’m all ears. If he wants to talk about ANY other farm system I will pass.

Also to claim that Ricketts and Bush don’t know the players the Sox are talking about is follish. If there is one thing we can say about Ricketts is he DOES his homework. I did his homework when he bought the theam, before he fired Hendry, and when he interviewed Theo. As fas as Bush it’s not like he walked off the street and contacted the Red Sox…..hes been around a while. Also last I checked the Cubs have a manager,just not a good one, the Sox however don’t have one.

Shouldn’t this be looked at like any other gamble? Any other trade? Give talent to get talent? At least Epstein is a known, successful commodity unlike other personel acquired by the Cubs that come after their prime or with a lot of baggage (most of Hendry’s doing).
I would think that most of us fans really don’t know the true ceiling of the Cubs’ minor league players so to us…it’s just another trade. At least we would be getting someone in Epstein that would be WORTH the risk of losing some young players that chances are will not be the next Lou Brock or Greg Maddux. Probably. If the Cubs (Ricketts) can take on the gamble of quite a few minor leaguers for Garza and HIS good track record then the same can be said for trading for Epstein. And I don’t care how biased Gammons is, it is nice to hear ANYBODY in the baseball community hint that Quade needs to be replaced.
As stated in the SunTimes today.

I think that Mr Gammon’s is speaking more from his own personal ties to the Red Sox. The Cubs do have personnel that do know their own talent and you can bet that Tom Ricketts has most likely talked with them about the talent they have that the Red Sox have been interested in for compensation. I don’t agree that Boston has or had the upper hand when it comes to the negotiation process. There are other GM options that are available out there and the Cubs could very easily have pulled out and went another direction. Also, some people have said that Chicago has no GM and that was another reason for Boston having the upper hand. However, the Cubs do have an interim GM in Randy Bush so if they wanted to, they could have waited a year and then went after Theo when his contract expired with the Red Sox. Besides that, Boston gave permission for the Cubs to speak with Theo about the GM position and it was already mentioned that the Red Sox had also already mentioned his replacement in Ben Cherington. Everyone has their opinions, but I agree with a comment I saw here about being disappointed in Peter Gammons’ comments. Is there a reason behind Gammons’ comments on the absurdity of the situation? Or were those comments just so that he could bring some attention to himself. As far as talent, it should not be any top level prospects. I’m a little late at seeing this article and my understanding is that Theo will now join the Cubs and an announcement will be made on Tuesday. We’ll soon see what the compensation will be. One other thing, I saw a comment here about Baseball America ranking the Cubs farm system #16, which if that’s true, means that the Cubs farm system is not a bottom-three farm system. It also means that Mr Gammons didn’t do his homework before making his comments.

Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems ass though you relied
onn the video to make your point. You definitely know what youre
talking about, why waste youir intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog
when you could be giving us something enlightening
to read?

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